The government announced the customs clearance arrangement on Thursday (2nd). When returning to the Mainland in the future, citizens must install the "Travel with Peace" program on their smartphones and link their travel records to the "Hong Kong Health Code".
Citizens can register on the government website with real names starting next Friday (10th). After uploading the proof of address and "Travel with peace of mind" whereabouts records, they can obtain the corresponding color "Hong Kong Health Code" ("Hong Kong Health Code").
For customs clearance matters, the Bureau of Innovation and Technology and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer have provided technical support. However, in addition to supporting policy hardware, the government also has to deal with soft implementation issues. In particular, the operating procedures of the "Kangkang Code" still seem to be inconsistent. It is a problem for people living in the digital divide.
The government tackles the digital divide
The "Hong Kong Health Code" is registered, and every time you log in, you need to use a mobile phone SMS to verify it. This will cause inconvenience to citizens who are not familiar with the operation of electronic equipment—especially the elderly.
Fortunately, the government has clearly learned the lesson of "traveling with peace of mind" and indicated that in order to solve the digital challenges caused by the "Hong Kong Health Code", it is planning to mobilize areas across departments to assist citizens in applying for, downloading and using the "Hong Kong Health Code".
In terms of "traveling with peace of mind", the public has always been concerned about the failure of the visually impaired to use it smoothly, and the government has also put forward a countermeasure.
Authorities will distribute embossed plastic sleeves to places that apply for "Travel with Peace" so that the visually impaired can identify the location of the QR code with Braille, use "Travel with Peace" to record their whereabouts, and then link the records to the "Hong Kong Health Code".
It is mandatory to use safe travel in the market.
(Photo by Ou Jiale)
Reasons for the policy to be remedied
The supplementary work of "Travel with peace of mind" is certainly desirable and is expected to make the policy implementation smoother, but it also reflects that the original plan was not comprehensive enough, and the problem was only addressed after the problem was pointed out.
This situation must be improved in the future so as not to drag down the appeal of the government and affect the efficiency of administration in the future.
Taking the "Hong Kong Health Code" as an example, the government should realize early on that not all citizens have access to the Internet.
According to the latest "Information Technology Usage and Popularity" released by the Census and Statistics Department on April 15, there are still about 500,000 Hong Kong people aged 10 or above without smartphones in 2020.
The government is now planning to provide education and assistance services to citizens with smart phones. However, it can be seen from the earlier incident of consumer vouchers that even if the government sent staff to assist in registering consumer vouchers, about 200 people still failed to receive the information due to incorrect information. , Administrative arrangements must be better planned.
Hundreds of elderly people and other citizens who did not succeed in applying for consumer vouchers went to the consumer vouchers secretariat to inquire and make up the procedures. People queued outside the building, and some people clamored.
(Photo by Liao Yanxiong)
In addition, the bureau stated that it is coordinating with charities or telecommunications companies to distribute mobile phones and calling cards, but at the same time emphasized that all resources will be borne by relevant agencies.
This makes people worry that even if the government understands the problem, it will push the blame on non-governmental organizations.
Once the organization may fail to cooperate with the relevant policies due to different factors, such as economic considerations, can the government only put the problem aside?
In view of this, why not let the government directly undertake this work?
Customs clearance is a hard-won step, and the authorities must plan thoroughly to make sure nothing goes wrong.
Vaccine passports need to be fully planned. When social issues become the subject of the program, the solution to social issues must first be determined